Shedding mechanism for looms.



No. 643,964. Patented Feb. 20, I900.-

E. INGRAHAM.

SHEDDING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

Ap lication filed May 8, 1896.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet l.

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E. INGRAHAM.

SHEDDING MECHANISM FOR LOOMS.

(Application filed May 8, 1896.) (No Model.) 4 Sheets-Sheet z FIG: 5.

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, Paiented Feb. 20, 1900. E. INGRAHAM. SHEDDING MECHANISM "FOR LOOMS.

(Application filed May 8, 1896.)

(No Model.)

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No. 643,964. Patented Feb. 20, I900.

E. INGBAHAM. v

SHEDDING MECHANISM FOR LUOMS.

(Application filed May 8, 1896.)

4 Sheets-Sheet 4,

(No Model.)

II M I M 11 M UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDMUND INGRAHAM, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR or ONE-HALF TO THE FAIRMOUNT MACHINE COMPANY, or SAME PLACE;

IS'HED'D'ING MECHANISM FoR' LooMs.

srnoxrIoATIoN forming m of Letters Patent No. 643,964, dated Faaa 20, 1906. Application filed May 8, 1896. v Serial No 590,781. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, EDMUND INGRAHAM, a citizen of the United States, residing in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, have invented certain Improvements in Shedding Mechanism for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

One object of my invention is to provide simple and effective means whereby each pattern-lever is caused to control both the upper and lower jacks of a pair, a further object being to so construct the jacks that each will have an effective stop for limiting its movemerit, a still further object being to provide driving mechanism for the pattern chain drum which will be self-releasing when the movement of said drum meets with undue obstruction, and a final object being to simplify the construction and improve the operation of the compensating spring under motion whereby the-heddles are drawn downward. These objects I attain in the manner hereinafter set forth, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which-- Figure 1 is a front View, partly in section, of sufficient of a loom to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged View of one of the heddle-levers and of the operating mechanism employed in conjunction therewith. Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the jacklifters. Fig. 1 is an enlarged sectional plan view of a series" of jacklevers and jacks. Fig. 5 is a plan View of one of the pattern-1e- Fig. 6 is an enlarged side View of the spring under motion for depressing the heddles. Fig. 7 isa transverse section on the line a: as, Fig. 6, showing spring mechanism for two heddles. Fig. 8 is a view, on an enlarged scale, of the driving mechanism for the shaft of the pattern-chain drum and Fig. 9 is a plan or top view of the same, partly in section.

In Fig. 1 the loom-frame is represented at 1, said frame having in the upper portion a shaft 2, to which are hung the heddle-levers 3, the upper ends of said levers being notched for the reception of cords 4, which pass over pulleys'5 at the top of the loom and are connected to the upper ends of the heddles 6. Hung to each of the heddle-levers 3 is a lever 7, which is pivoted about midway of its length and carries both at its upper and lower end a hooked jack 8, the upper jacks being adaptcd to be actuated by a sliding bar 9 and the lower jacks by a similar bar 10, reciprocating motion being imparted to these bars by any ordinary form of mechanism common in this class of looms, so that the bars move in opposite directionsthat is to say, the upper bar moves inward as the lower bar moves outward, and vice versa. Each 'of the lower jacks 8 is under the direct control of a lever 11, actuated by the pins of a patternchain 12, so that the hooked end of said lower jack may be raised out of range of the bar 10 or dropped into range of the same.

From the side of each of the levers 11 projects a pin 13, Fig. 5, around which is bent the lower end of a wire 14, which projects upward to the grid 15, which guides the upper jacks 8, the upper end of each wire 141 being bent so as to form a double yoke 16, Fig. 3, occupying the slot of the grid beneath its respective jack 8, the two runs of wire in the yoke lying side by side, so as to provide for the proper support of said jack. Hence the operation of either of the pattern-levers 11 will effect the simultaneous lift or drop of both upper and lower jacks of the corresponding jack-lever 7.

Each of the jack-levers has at each end a projecting pin 17, preferably cast therewith and adapted for the reception of the eye at the inner end of the jack-lever 8, and on each end of the lever is a projecting segmental web or rib 18, which by contact with a fixed bar or brace 19 on the loom-frame serves to arrest the movement of the end of the lever and provide a proper fulcrum-bearing for the same when its other end is moved under the action of one of the reciprocating bars 9 or 10.

The lower end of each of the heddles is connected by a cord or wire 20 to a strap 21, which is secured to a lever 22, hung to a rod or bar 23, mounted in frames 24 and 25,which are secured to beams 26, carried by transverse beams 27 of the loom-frame. There are two rods or bars 23 and two sets of levers 22, and the strap 21 of each lever is connected at one end to the heddle wire or cord 20 and at the other end to a spring 28, which is secured at its upper end to a bar 29, carried by the frames 24 and 25.

Each of the levers 22 has a curved face, eccentric in respect to the axis of the fulcrum bar or rod 23. Hence in the operation of the device the pull of the springs upon the heddles is graduated to accord with the strain upon the warp, so that the strain upon the heddle-levers is substantially uniform. Thus it will be understood that when the warp is closed-that is to say, when all of the warpthreads occupy the mid-position-there is no strain of the warps upon the heddles tending to pull them downward; but as a heddle is drawn downward, so as to carry its warpthreads from the intermediate to the lowermost position, said warp-threads exert a constantly-increasing upward strain upon the heddle. Hence there should bea constantlyincreasing downward pull upon the same .to counteract this upward strain. On the other hand, when the heddles are being raised, so as to lift their warp-threads from the intermediate to the uppermost position, the strain of the warp-threads exerts a constantly-increasing downward pull upon said heddles, and the springs should therefore exert a constantly-decreasing downward pull thereon. The construction which I have devised accomplishes this result, for when the warpthreads are in the intermediate position each of the levers 22 also occupies a position intermediate between the extremes shown, respectively, by plain and shaded lines in Fig. 6, and the spring pulls almost in line with the fulcrum-rod 23, so as to exert very little .power on the lever. As each lever swings outward or in the direction of the arrow w, Fig. 6, however, the pull of that end of the strap to which the spring is connected is exerted upon the lever at a point which is constantly receding from the fulcrum, and hence there is a continual gain in leverage, while. at the same time the rounded face of the lever over which is being laid that portion of the strap 21 to which the heddle is connected is approaching closer and closer to the fulcrum, and hence the leverage is further augment-ed. In the same way as the levers swing inward or in the direction shown by the arrows y in Fig. 6 as the heddle-frames are raised the pull of that portion of the strap 21 to which the heddle is connected is exerted upon each lever at a point which gradually recedes farther and farther from the fulcrum, while that portion of the strap to which the spring is connected is being laid around the portion of the lever which is closest to the fulcrum. Hence the pullof the springs is closely graduated to accord with their desired function of compensating for the varying strain upon the heddle caused by the varyingpull of the warp-threads thereon.

Each of the levers 22 is open or slotted, and a bar passes through each series of levers and serves by contact with the upper portion of each lever to limit the outward swing of the same, and thus govern the extent of depression of the heddles.

Each of the straps 21 is secured to its respective lever by means of a pin 31, projecting from that portion of the lever with which the strap is always in contact, this pin being preferably .cast with the lever and being forced through an opening in the strap 21, the head of the pin being slightly enlarged, so as to prevent accidental removal of the strap from the lever.

The best leverages are obtained when each lever 22 has its face partly eccentric and partly flat, as shown, the spring end of the strap leading from the fiat face. Hence this construction is always preferred.

The pattern-chain drum 32 is secured to a shaft 33, to which is also secured a disk 34, having a seriesof recesses uniformly spaced around its periphery, the hub of said disk also having another disk 35 with peripheral recesses adapted for the reception of a retaining-roller 36, which is carried bya lever 37, acted upon by a spring 38, and hung to a shaft adjacent to and parallel with the shaft 33.

Secured to the shaft 40 is a sprocket-wheel 41, which is drivenby a chain from any available rotating portion of the loom, as shown, for instance, in Fig. 1,.and to said shaft 40 is alsosecured a hub 42, with:notches adapted for the reception of beveled lugs 43, Fig. 9, upon the inner face of a disk '44, which is loosely mounted onthe shaft 40-and has on its inner face a series of :projecting pins 45, adapted as the disk 44 is rotated to engage successively with successive recesses of the disk 34, so as to'impart intermittentmovements of partial rotation to the latter. In the present instance thereare four'of these pins 45 on the disk 44. Hence there will be four movements of the disk 34 and conse* quently of the pattern-chain drum and its chain for each rotation of the shaft 40, and

the nu mber of movements of the pattern-chain.

drum and chain can, as will be evident, be readily regulated by varyingthe number of pins on the disk 44.

The beveled lugs 43 of the disk 44 and the correspondingly-beveled recessesof the hub 42 are normally kept in engagement by the action upon-the disk 44 of a spring 46, interposed between said-disk and a collar 47 at the end of the shaft 40, and in the event of any undue obstruction to the movement of the pattern-chain the wedge-like action of'the walls of the recesses of the hub 42 upon the lugs of the disk 44 will causethe latter to be forced outward, so as to free it from-the control of thehub. Hence there will be no operation of the pattern-chain until the obstruction to its movement has been removed.

7 Having thus described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. The combination, in heddle mechanism for looms, of the j ack-levers having upper and lower jacks, grids for guiding the same, pattern-levers acting upon the lower jacks and having laterally-projecting pins and wires hooked around said pins at the lower ends and bent at the upper ends so as to form yokes parallel with the upper jacks, which yokes embrace the lower bar of the upper grid and enter the slots of said upper grid and serve as supports for the upper jacks, substantially as specified.

2. The combination, in heddle mechanism for looms, of a jack-lever having upper and lower jacks, a pattern-lever acting upon the lower jack, and a wire extending upward from said pattern-lever so as to act upon the upper jack, said wire being bent at its upper end so as to form a double yoke parallel with the upper jack and with the runs of the Wire lying side by side, whereby a long and broad bearing for said upper jack is provided, substantially as specified.

3. The combination of the heddles, open or slotted levers having faces eccentric in respect to their fulcrums, straps carried by said 1evers and each connected at one end to a beddle and at the opposite end to a spring, and a stop-bar passing transversely through the slots or open portions of the levers and serving by contact with the levers to limit the descent of the heddles, substantially as specified.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

EDMUND INGRAHAM.-

Witnesses:

F. E. BECHTOLD, J 0s. H. KLEIN. 

